In Sickness and In Health
by apples-a-day
Summary: As if being in an accident wasn't enough, now she's being told she's forgotten the last 3 years of her life? And in those 3 years, she got married...to her? Just great.
1. Waking Up

**Okay! As promised, the continuation of my SQW drabble!**

**Just to clarify if anyone is confused, I'm NOT just reposting this story, but rather as I am continuing it, I wanted to put it on its own. Otherwise it'd get kinda confusing if I kept swerving 4 stories around in one document.**

**If you have read this previously, I just did some editing...it's incredible how many mistakes you find AFTER posting, even if you checked it beforehand.**

**Anyway, if this is your first time reading this, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

_The car swerved._

_Her heart raced_

_A hand gripped hers on the steering wheel._

_They looked at each other._

_"I-"_

* * *

Emma felt a blinding pain on her head, making her groan as she came to. She felt like she had been hit by a truck, and then had a lawnmower pass over the wreck.

Before she could get her bearings, she was engulfed into a tight hug.

"Oh thank goodness Emma! You had us so worried and we begun to fear the worst-" Mary Margaret was rambling in her ear, and Emma hugged her back, albeit a tad bit awkwardly. She still wasn't completely used to having people care about her so much.

Once they broke apart, Emma did a double take. "Whoa, what happened?"

Her mother looked at her curiously. "You were in a car crash. There was a terrible thunderstorm and you hydroplaned onto a fallen tree."

Emma frowned. "How long was I out?"

"A couple of days."

Now Emma was truly confused. "And you grew your hair out in just a couple of days?"

Although her hair wasn't back to the glory of her Snow White days, Mary Margaret had let her hair grow a bit longer than her usual pixie-cut style. The older woman blanched, and let out a stammering, "What's the last thing you remember?"

Emma let out a sigh. "I don't know, I guess it was when Hook and I were coming back from the past. Zelena's time travel thingy came back to life and we brought Marian back to Storybrooke."

"Oh no, you too."

Emma was confused. "Me too? What too? What's wrong?"

"Emma, that was 3 years ago."

* * *

Regina was staring at her son. At least she was sure it was her son, except now a lot taller and a teenager, voice deeper and trying to figure out his body.

"So, what happened in these three years? I see you've grown."

Henry grinned at the last comment, but it faltered as he saw his mom waiting for an actual answer. "Yeah, a lot of things have happened."

He was keeping something from her, that's for sure. She would find out what it was. "Has the town at least gotten some peace and quiet after Zelena?"

"Kinda not really," he smirked. "We had Elsa, some ogres, you know, just another day in Storybrooke. Never dull."

The brunette smiled at her son, and ran a hand through her hair. She felt something different on it, and took a good look. She raised the left hand up to her son, preparing a glare should he not answer adequately. "What is this?"

"A ring." He was clearly her son, expertly dodging questions.

"What kind?"

"Silver?"

"Henry..." she had used the warning tone a lot in the past, and she didn't care if her son was already 15 and a little bit taller than her, she still knew how to intimidate.

"It's a wedding ring."

"And who is it that I'm supposedly married to?"

* * *

"Say _what_?!" Emma was sure her eyes would bug out at any second. This had to be a joke.

"A lot of time has passed, you two managed to get along, and eventually fall for one another."

"Is this Storybrooke's own version of punk'd? Seriously what the hell?"

Mary Margaret sighed, sitting on the bed. "Look Emma, believe me when I say that this was my exact reaction when _you_ told _me_ about your secret relationship with her, but I've learnt to accept it."

Emma nodded slowly. She was married to none other than Regina Mills. Man she must've conked her head harder than she thought.

Speaking of the devil, the door burst open, and sporting a hospital gown identical to hers, Regina came in, fury in her eyes, a faint purple aura surrounding her. She barely registered Henry trailing behind her, or how different he looked.

She made a beeline to the bed, and practically growled at Mary Margaret, "I swear, if this is some kind of sick joke, I will tear-"

"Whoa there Regina." Emma gently placed a hand on Regina's arm, but the latter wrenched her arm free of the touch.

"You don't get to say anything either. I don't know what the hell kind of game this is but I refuse to play a part in this."

Mary Margaret refused to cower, and she replied, "Three years have passed Regina, doesn't a small part of you see this as being plausible?"

In truth, Regina wanted to say yes. She wanted to believe she had found love, and heck, she did think of Emma as attractive, and wouldn't have found it so unlikely the two wound up together, despite their various spats in the past. However, Regina attacked first and asked questions later. It was a tried and proven method to giver her time to breathe and figure things out, not to mention it allowed her to have the solid wall to protect her from sadness.

So, looking at Mary Margaret, she ground out a simple "No", and left the room.

Emma twirled the ring on her finger, her lie detector still ringing from Regina's answer.

* * *

If Regina had hoped her house would offer answers, she was sorely mistaken.

Well, there were answers, just not the ones she was looking for. In her state of denial, she had hoped she'd see that she still lived by herself, not that her house now had signs of one more inhabitant living within it, joining family pictures with gusto. Regina picked up one frame, seeing that it had to have been recent, Henry not looking much younger than what he was now, and she saw with a pang how happy she looked beside Emma, Henry between them.

She put down the picture before the tears she'd been keeping at bay actually spilled. This was too much for her.

She heard the door open, and got ready to attack the intruder, a fireball appearing on her hand.

"Whoa mom. It's just me." Henry had his arms up, eyes wide.

"Sorry Henry, I'm just- this is too much to take in."

"I know, but you asked."

Regina smiled, chuckling softly, "Yes, I suppose I did."

"Why did you lie?"

She looked at her son confused. What was he talking about?

When his mother didn't say anything, Henry elaborated, "After you left, Ma said that you were lying, when you answered grandma's question. So if you do find it plausible, why did you lie?"

How could Regina explain to her son that this was her survival mechanism? This had been how she had survived heartbreak after heartbreak in her life.

* * *

_"Why do you keep lying to yourself Regina?"_

_"You don't know me, Miss Swan."_

_Emma scoffed, letting out a mirthless chuckle. "I know you very well Regina Mills. I know that when you're nervous or scared, you take a step back from anything personal, including calling people by their first names. Also if you forgot, I have-"_

_"A built-in lie detector. Yes we've established that at least a dozen times Miss Swan, but I would have that lie detector checked out for faults after so many years in use. You can't put your inability to take a no for an answer as an excuse to break out the lie detector line. I'm sure it's a great party trick, but I will continue to insist, I do **not** like you."_

_"Okay Regina, whatever makes you sleep at night."_

_She probably should've left it at that, but she had a need to have the final word. "Why do you care anyway? You're with the pirate."_

_"Didn't work out." Emma didn't explain any more, but Regina could see there was a story behind it, and not a pleasant one. She had the sudden urge to find the pirate and inflict pain on him. Why, she could hazard a guess, but she didn't like the implications from that reason._

_But Regina had to put her foot in her mouth with a snide remark. "That's too bad, you two seemed perfect for each other."_

_Emma didn't even bother to answer the jab, instead throwing her hands in the air and leaving with a huff._

* * *

Regina's eyes shot open. She knew for a fact that that hadn't been just any old dream. This was a memory.

She let out a sigh. At least this memory made sense. She _didn't_ like Emma, and how could she have gone to marry the daughter of her arch-nemesis? The thought baffled her. But this? This made sense. This was the dynamic she was used to with the blonde. Not the lovey-dovey still images she saw.

Looking over at her clock, she saw that it was only 4am. She sat up and looked around the room. The room she and Emma supposedly shared. Thankfully the blonde wasn't here tonight, Henry told her that his other mother was staying over with the Charmings, giving both of them the space they needed.

Regina fell back onto her bed with a groan. Why did this have to be so complicated? Why couldn't she will her mind to just remember everything so she could make sense of the situation?

* * *

_Emma let out a hiss of pain, clutching her stomach. The gravel beneath her rumbled as the ogre walked away from her, thinking her dead._

_She might as well be, with the pain she was feeling; she couldn't even reach her phone, and there was no one around her. It was the middle of the night, and she was the sole person on night duty tonight_

_As she rested her head back on the pavement, she let out another wince of pain. The spiked club he had hit her with was coated with some kind of poison. Emma didn't even know what kind it was, but the sickly green color was enough of an indication to know it wasn't good. And that green mixed with her blood didn't make her feel any better about the matter._

_Her ears perked up as she heard heels hitting the pavement. She didn't even have the strength to look up to see who it was. _

_"Emma!" All of a sudden, her head and shoulders were being gently lifted, and someone sat beneath her. She opened her eyes and saw Regina Mills above her, eyes filled with worry._

_She wanted to say something snarky, something like how her caring was showing, but the pain in her abdomen was way too much for her to even try to think about coming up with a complex sentence, so instead she settled for a simple, "Hey."_

_Regina smiled. "Hey."_

_"Man these ogres pack a punch huh?"_

_The brunette's smile faltered. She remembered their situation, and quickly started to look at Emma's chest, the shirt bloodied and torn. She started trying to lift the mess up to clear the blonde's chest to heal it._

_"Careful, I think there's poison in there."_

_"Yes, it's a power-drainer."_

_"Should I even ask how you-" Emma paused to catch her breath, flinching slightly. She took a deep breath and continued, "How you know that?"_

_Regina smirked, "Comes with being an Evil Queen, dear." She then finished lifting away Emma's shirt so that her chest was unconstrained._

_"Right, of course." Emma rolled her eyes. "So, what does a power-drainer do?"_

_Regina's hands glowed purple as she set to work in healing the younger woman. "It does what it says. Life force, energy, magical powers. All drained. Ogres were never fair fighters, and just one whack of this can send even the strongest warriors packing."_

_"But-" she inhaled sharply. "But you touched it."_

_"Immunity. Ogres aren't the only ones that would know about the potion, and well, I wasn't exactly the most well-liked person in the Enchanted Forest. Suffice it to say that I was to be the victim of plenty of assassination plots in the past."_

_Emma saw the pain in Regina's eyes, and felt that one day, she'd ask about it. For now, she just had to focus on not dying, and with the little strength she had, she lifted her hand to give Regina's arm a comforting squeeze._

_Suddenly Regina's ministrations doubled in power, Emma gasped at how quickly the pain seemed to be vanishing, purple light glowing brightly._

_As the light died, Emma felt her breathing return to normal, and her hand dropped from where it previously rested on Regina's arm. She still felt weak, but managed to get out a faint "Thanks" to Regina, with a lopsided smile and everything._

_Regina, however, didn't respond. Instead, she lowered her head towards Emma's, until their lips met._

_Although Emma didn't really have much remaining strength, she returned the kiss back with as much force as she could muster. They broke apart once they heard an ambulance coming, and Emma blacked out just as she saw Regina trying to lift her towards where the ambulance had stopped._

* * *

Emma went down to the kitchen, carefully passing by her little brother's room. The little toddler had been ecstatic to see her when she arrived at the house. Emma could barely wrap her head around the fact that her missing memories meant that the newborn she remembered was now 3 from one day to the next.

But now, what currently occupied her mind was the crazy dream she'd just woken up from. Was that how they had fallen in love? With Regina healing her from an ogre attack? It seemed like the kind of thing that would happen to them. She glanced at the clock, noting it was just past 4, and wondered how Regina was feeling. They'd both been released from the hospital, though from what she heard, Regina left after their little scene in the hospital room.

Whale had told her that this kind of amnesia probably went away with time. Memories would come back from time to time, usually in dreams or the like. They just needed to arm themselves with patience, and to see him in a week to check for progress.

So far Emma just had the one memory where she'd nearly died. It was weird to see everything like this, rather than having the memories of that time for context.

She drank her cup of water and placed it in the sink, before making her way back to her room. Once inside, she glanced once again at the bag with her clothes sitting on the chair. Mary Margaret had insisted that David had brought some clothes over from Regina's house — she still had trouble seeing it as both hers and Regina's — but Emma knew it was a lie. She didn't press, and figured that she'd eventually find what it was.

Were they having an argument? Was that why they were out driving in the middle of the night through Storybrooke's forests? She fidgeted with the ring on her finger as she thought, she had been unable to find the strength to take it off. Just because she couldn't remember it, didn't mean they weren't still married, right?

* * *

Regina looked up as she heard a loud yawn, looking up to see her teenaged son dragging his feet towards the kitchen, hair standing up on all ends.

"Morning Henry."

She only received a grunt in response.

"Nice to see some things don't change, like your conversational habits in the morning."

Now she got a glare, and Regina just laughed. She went over to the garbage can to throw away the apple peel, and was met with a strange sight.

"Henry? Why is there a broken vase in the garbage?" She looked over at her son and saw that he sobered up instantly.

"It broke."

"I can see that. But why would it be thrown away?" She was sure that she would have repaired with magic it if it had been broken. What had happened? Was there an argument behind its broken state?

"No reason. You guys just decided that it was an ugly vase anyway and just threw it out." Henry was lying, but it was clear she wasn't going to get the answer from him now.

A while later, she left the house and headed to her office. Just because she had amnesia didn't mean that she wasn't going to keep doing her job. As she got nearer to the building, she saw someone heading her way, and a familiar voice calling her name.

Emma stopped right beside her, catching her breath.

"Yes, Miss Swan?" She didn't have all day to stand here while her supposed wife was trying to come up with how to word her question.

"How are you?"

Regina was sure that hadn't been the blonde's original question, but still decided to entertain the other woman. "I'm fine, yourself?"

"Good, good." Emma nodded distractedly, and then, as if having a mental discussion with herself, decided on continuing, "Did you get any 'weird' dreams?"

The brunette didn't even think of the answer to that question, she merely noticed how, when the blonde brought up her hands to make air quotes, the glint of a ring caught her eye, and when she opened her mouth to speak, she said, "I see you're still wearing your ring."

Emma blushed, but her face fell as she saw that Regina wasn't. The indentation of the ring, after years of use, was still there, but Regina refused to wear it while she didn't know how she wound up where she was. "Y-yeah, figured that I'd lose it otherwise, so why not."

Regina didn't believe that for a second, and she didn't have time to be psychoanalyzing her pseudo-wife, so she just sighed and kept walking, leaving Emma standing there confused and hurt.

* * *

_"It's part of my job!"_

_"Your job is to protect people, not become target practice!"_

_"Come on, I'm not hurt!"_

_"But you could've been!"_

_Emma and Regina were glaring at each other, personal space long forgotten. The blonde huffed, stepping back, pacing around the room. "Look Regina, the bad guy's caught, and it's over, can't we just let it go? If we keep having spats every time I get hurt-"_

_"Maybe it'll convince you to stop trying to be the hero all the time," Regina spat, crossing her arms._

_"What would you have me do? Twiddle my thumbs around doing nothing, having other people get hurt because my wife doesn't think I can handle myself?"_

_Regina's eyes flashed a dangerous purple. "Is that what you think? That I'm holding you back? Keeping you from being the big hero?"_

_"No!-"_

_"Well it sounds like you're very much saying that!" Regina uncrossed her arms, a purple aura beginning to form. "So tell me, what were you saying?"_

_"Regina calm down, you know the stress isn't good for you!" Emma put up her hands in a placating gesture, inching her way closer to her wife._

_"Because my magic is 'dangerous'?" Regina sneered. "So you can play the big hero risking your life and nearly get killed by a wayward ax, but I'm supposed to keep a lid on **my** magic? If being a hero is such a big part of you, Emma Swan, so is my magic."_

_"This is different Regina..."_

_"No, it's not!" A loud clink was heard as large shards of ceramic flew out. Regina, having noticed what happened, shielded herself, but Emma got the brunt of it, shards scratching at her face and arms._

_"Emma-" Regina saw the blood forming at the scratches by her wife, and tried to approach her, but Emma backed away._

_Without another word, the blonde went upstairs, and after a few minutes, came back down carrying a bag. Regina barely heard her wife say, "Call if you need anything," before the door slammed closed._

_Neither noticed the other was crying._

* * *

**Okay! So that was the first chapter, next one will be up in a couple of days!**

**More memories coming back, more drama right here!**

**Feedback is always appreciated!**


	2. Coming Out

**And the next part for this!**

**Thank you as always to everyone for the support! I hope everyone enjoys this!**

* * *

Dinner was awkward and silent to say the least. Although Mary Margaret was keeping little Neal entertained and babbling by feeding him dinner, the other two members of the family looked solemn and glum.

David had been with Emma during the day, helping her out at the Station, and it broke his heart to see his daughter so confused and broken. She came in to work looking lost, it was a wonder she had managed to get to there at all. When he had asked what was wrong, he got a mousy reply about Regina having taken her ring out. Since then the usually active Sheriff had moved around like she was on automatic pilot.

Clearly getting the two back together would be more complicated than originally thought. Emma wasn't convinced that she was truly with Regina, seeing how quick the other was to let her go. David and Mary Margaret were at least thankful that the memories were still intact enough that their marriage wasn't a completely alien idea. Just the thought of how disastrous it'd be if they had been stuck in their mentality during the curse made the two parents thankful for the little blessings.

Emma watched as Mary Margaret got a particularly stubborn Neal to open his mouth, getting a spoonful of vegetables inside.

"Ha ha!" was Mary Margaret's victorious cry.

"Maama!" Little Neal drawled, looking petulant, scowling at the trick.

The move got Emma's mouth to curl up into the smallest of smiles. David took the time to put his hand on top of Emma's, getting his daughter to look at him. "Don't worry, Regina will come around."

"But what if she doesn't? What if she gets her memories back and realizes that she really doesn't want to be together with me?" Emma slowly sunk her head into her hands as she said that. How was it possible that even though she was missing her memories as well, she had to be doing the effort to get them together. Typical Regina, always the dainty queen, having others do the work, she thought shrewdly.

Mary Margaret turned to face the mass of blonde hair that was her daughter's head, and smirked as she replied, "Well if that's the case, I'll kindly remind her that it was _her_ that threatened _us_ that if we did anything to sabotage your relationship, she'd burn us into a crisp."

"Crispy crisps!" came the enthusiastic cry from the toddler.

Emma looked up slowly. "Seriously?"

Her parents nodded, remembering the very moment.

"It was right when you two decided to come out to us..."

* * *

_Mary Margaret was sure someone was messing with her. She looked at David, making sure she had heard correctly. While she was gaping in surprise, her husband was scowling towards the two women sitting on the couch in front of them._

_Specifically their intertwined hands, with Emma's thumb rubbing calming circles on Regina's._

_Mary Margaret looked at Regina, noting that for the first time, it looked as if the usually composed woman was nervous as hell. Her daughter, on the other hand, was biting her lip, looking hopeful that her parents wouldn't make too much trouble._

_Although they weren't opposed to Emma's preference to the fairer sex, her choice of Regina as a partner was something they couldn't wrap their heads around._

_"You're joking right?" Mary Margaret blurted out. Clearly that had been the wrong thing to say, as she saw that the mayor's nervousness started to slowly transition towards anger._

_Emma sighed, of course this wouldn't be easy. "No, we're-"_

_"No!" David stood up in a blind fury. "I refuse to believe that this- this **thing** is real."_

_Emma stood up as well, bringing Regina up with her due to their joined hands. Mary Margaret decided to follow suit._

_"It's very much real." Emma stared down at her father defiantly, daring him._

_"What have you done with her, witch!" Currently the only thing keeping David from taking Regina by force was a small coffee table, but that wasn't too much for him as his shins touched the table, fists clenched._

_"I've done nothing, **Charming**," Regina bit back with a snarl._

_Emma was glad that her dad didn't walk around with his sword, otherwise she was sure he'd have pulled it out by now._

_"I forbid this to go any further." He turned towards Emma, pleading eyes begging to get her to understand. "This witch has done nothing but give our family grief!"_

_"Regina's not the same person you knew!"_

_"Ha! We can't even count the amount of times your mother and I have tried to forgive her, only to have her spit it back out in our faces. She can't be redeemed!"_

_"That was more than 30 years ago!" Emma still hadn't let go of Regina's hand, Mary Margaret noticed. She also noticed that Regina's anger at them had dissipated as she saw her girlfriend – not that Mary Margaret could get behind the title without getting a bitter taste in her mouth – defend her against her parents with such bravado._

_"And she kept the curse alive for 28 of those years!" David sighed, turning to Mary Margaret for support. Clearly nothing he said would get through to her, but rather that it would get rebounded back with as much force as he threw it._

_"And ever since the curse broke she has done nothing but help us defeat the bad guys!"_

_"Emma," Mary Margaret inched forward, hoping to get through to her daughter. "The point your father is trying to make is that Regina can't be trusted-"_

_"Thank you Snow. Please just forget I'm even in the room," Regina bit back._

_"You don't get to talk to my wife like that!" David made his way around the coffee table standing mere inches away from Regina. The latter had let go of Emma's hand, her own hands balling into fists, glowing a faint purple, ready to do anything at a moment's notice._

_"Emma, please see reason!" Mary Margaret eyed Regina's hands warily, but she plowed on. "She's the reason that you had to grow up alone! That you went for 28 years without a family-"_

_"STOP!" Emma was looking livid. Even Regina did a double take. "For all the things you can put the blame on Regina for, **this** isn't one of them. It's both of your faults that I grew up without parents."_

_"That's not true! We-"_

_"No it's not! It wasn't Regina who put me into a freaking magical wardrobe!"_

_"She drove us to that decision. We did it to save you from the curse." David could hardly believe this was happening, had Regina already corrupted their daughter that much?_

_"And to give you your best chance!" Mary Margaret added with a smile, hoping that she'd understand._

_Alas, she didn't. "No. **Me** giving Henry up was for his best chance.** You two** decided to follow a maniac's prophecy to guarantee your futures without any regard to what it might do to me! What did you think I was going to do? Stay in limbo for 28 years? I had a pretty shitty life racked up until Henry knocked on my door. So **don't** talk to me about best chances, 'cause if that wound up being my best chance, I'd loathe to see what I would've ended up living with you two."_

_The two parents were flabbergasted. Heck even Regina was surprised at her girlfriend's tone. She knew Emma still had some deep emotional issues to work out with her parents, even after nearly 3 years of fragile conversations. She hadn't realized how much of it had been internalized._

_Mary Margaret was nearly in tears as she pressed on. "But you should understand, Emma! Like you said, you had to give up Henry yourself! Sometimes in life you're faced with difficult choices, and you have to take one and hope that it was the right one!"_

_"I can't believe I'm hearing this!" Regina looked and saw with a pang that Emma had tear tracks running down her face. She wanted to take her girlfriend into her arms, pull her away from this, and the thought of giving the Charmings a piece of her mind wasn't far from her plans. "Difficult choice? **Difficult**? I was a freaking teenager who was stuck in jail! There was **no way** I could've raised Henry! It wasn't difficult, it was my only choice! Of course I'd have kept him otherwise! But that was the hand I was dealt with! You two on the other hand were handed a self-fulfilling prophecy! Just by hearing it you were convinced that I was going to be a big Savior, without considering that maybe I'm not meant to be a Saviour or never wanted this in the first place!_

_"All I wanted was a family. I had **two** lost chances. First were the assholes who gave me up like I was an old couch after they **finally** got pregnant when I was 3. And then there was Neal who left me to rot in jail for his crimes. Now I've got a new chance, where I can have someone who loves me, I have my child, and parents to call my own! But **no**! Why should Emma get her happy ending even though her supposed role in this backwards story is to give people happy endings!_

_"Let's get her parents, who are the cliche embodiment of true love to tell her who she can or can't be with!" Before anyone could react, Emma made a gesture that teleported her from the room, only leaving a cloud of white smoke behind. Although the three assumed that she left the apartment entirely, she had reappeared in her old room. She wanted to go away and be alone, but she didn't want to leave her girlfriend by herself, no matter how much she was hurting._

_David and Mary Margaret still weren't used to their daughter being able to do magic, even less that she had been taught by the very woman that was now apparently left alone with them._

_Regina knew she had to go talk to her girlfriend, so she mustered her strength to help her from pulverizing the two dunces her lover was somehow genetically related to. Had she been in a calmer state of mind, she would've felt her girlfriend's presence still in the apartment, but she only saw red as she rounded off on the Charmings._

_"Listen to me very carefully. I'm only going to say this **once**. You might hate me all you want, but your daughter loves me. I hope that for once in your lives you do the right thing and let us be, even though the probability of that happening based on past events are zero to none. So let me make one thing perfectly clear." She paused for effect, giving both an equal glare, and she had to hide a smirk at seeing their blood run cold. Oh yes, they were dealing with the Evil Queen. "If you dare try sabotage our relationship or meddle in it in any way, I swear I will burn you both into crisps, consequences be damned. Am I clear?"_

_The two were dumbfounded by the threat, but both managed a measly nod._

_Regina left them at that, and went off to find her girlfriend. Where could she have gone?_

_Hearing the door slam, Emma finally left the apartment in another puff of white smoke, wanting some time alone to herself before she broke down completely._

* * *

Emma woke up with a start. She felt a rush at having just seen this scene. Sure her parents had described most of it to her earlier, and maybe that was what had led her to have the dream that visualized said event, but this felt so much more vivid.

She lay still on her bed, looking at the ceiling. If she was only going to get bits and pieces of their relationship every night, how long would it take for both of them to get all of their memories back?

Or worse, would Regina want to wait until their memories fully returned before she took action? She knew the ex-Queen was not a patient woman. Just remembering her desperation in Neverland while they were running around in circles trying to appease Pan and find Henry, with Regina snapping at them was enough of a reminder to Emma.

She once again wondered if her wife was also getting these dreams. Were they the same as hers?

She doubted she'd find the answer anytime soon, and let out a groan.

Why did this have to so complicated? She turned onto her side, closing her eyes, and hoping that, like a movie, she'd be able to press play and have the memory continue.

But that wasn't how dreams worked, and although she fell into a deep sleep, the continuation didn't come.

At least not to her.

* * *

_Regina pushed the door to their home open, calling to Henry, hoping that her voice didn't betray her panic. Her phone was still clutched into her hand, though the countless calls she had made to the Sheriff went unanswered, she didn't want to miss the opportunity if Emma called._

_"Hey mom! How was dinner with grandpa and grandma?" Henry came bounding out of the living room, where he and Ruby were keeping the 1 year-old Neal happy. He then realized that Emma wasn't with her, and voiced it, "Where's mom?"_

_Regina didn't even answer his questions, rather just plowing on with her mission. "Henry, has Emma come in here?"_

_The young boy shook his head. "Nope, didn't see her."_

_"Hey Regina, how did it go?" Ruby had been the only other person apart from Henry who knew the two women had been dating. After 1 year of skirting around town to be together, she and Henry finally convinced them that they should come out, even volunteering to take little Neal off of Mary Margaret and David's hands to try and make the night of news as painless and as smooth as possible. _

_Just by the look on Regina's face, both could tell the night had been disastrous. _

_Ruby snapped straight into action, offering to help. "Want me to come help find her? I can-"_

_But Regina shook her head. "No, thank you. Emma left in a fragile state. I just wanted to check if she's here. You can go and drop off Neal, and if I need help, I'll call."_

_Ruby nodded, giving Regina a quick hug before going back into the living room to pack things up with Neal and take him home._

_Henry rounded off back to Regina. "So mom, what's the plan?"_

_"The plan," she said, putting her free hand on Henry's shoulder, "Is that I'm going to go find your mother, wherever she decided to go hide, while you stay here in case she comes back, and call me as soon as she does, okay?"_

_He nodded solemnly, taking on his role in this mission, going over to sit beside the window in careful vigilance._

_Regina, after following Ruby out the door, teleported herself to the middle of Main Street. If there was any way to find her, she'd need to do it here. It was practically the center point for all of Storybrooke, so it was only fitting she start here._

_The road was deserted, but then again, it was late at night, mostly everyone was asleep, or at the Rabbit Hole getting drunk. She pushed the distractions out of her mind, closing her eyes as she focused her power._

_She was using a locator spell to find her girlfriend, and she needed all the concentration she could muster. This was a bit more complicated than the usual bottled potion version, and a much more advanced technique that required more than just an item from the missing person. She had never actually tried the spell, but was confident in her abilities to make it work._

_"Find me Emma Swan."_

_She opened her eyes and saw a flimsy red line flex out in front of her, looking like a piece of yarn. It started to move around before withering and disappearing._

_"No..."_

_The spell had to work, it couldn't just keel over and die! Her hands glowed a vibrant purple as her fists shook, and if anyone had been looking towards her right now, they'd have ran away to hide and cower, for the image Regina had on right now was a fearful one._

_With a bit more force, she let out "Find. Me. Emma. Swan!"_

_Suddenly the red yarn line, that had previously been spindly and weak, was now a bright powerful line that went in a circle around her before shooting up and into the clocktower and, after a couple of seconds, disappearing._

_Although Regina let out a sigh at seeing that Emma was nearby, she couldn't help but inwardly curse herself. All that effort had been for naught, she just had to turn around, go in and she would have found her._

_She went over to the library, and saw that the door was locked. Of course it was, it was the middle of the night. She waved her hand over the mechanism, and heard a click as it propped open. Heading inside, she was careful to keep her movements quiet, and her presence unknown. Although she was sure Emma wouldn't run away from her, in her state she might just run away at any sound before they could talk to each other._

_Regina felt around for the staircase that would lead her to the tower, taking careful steps. Once she reached the landing, she pushed the door open as quietly as she could. Stepping in, she felt a cool breeze from the many cracks and holes the decrepit tower had accumulated over the years. Her ears perked up at hearing someone sniffling and crying, but she saw no one._

_Emma had been training and perfecting her ability to turn invisible, and Regina was impressed with how quickly she caught on. Considering the ex-con woman was very talented at being quiet, with the invisibility spell, the amount of times she sneaked up on Regina to give her a fright were too many to count, much to her chagrin._

_Now, as she tried to determine the source of the crying, she made her way up the rickety steps to the clock, noting the noise was louder here. She stopped walking and extended her hand, closing her eyes, crouching ever so slightly. She moved forward a bit, and kept going until her hand made the faintest brush with something, and opened her eyes._

_Although it would look like she was touching nothing but air, Regina just knew she had made contact with Emma Swan's arm._

_She heard Emma sniffle a bit, and she could imagine her girlfriend looking up, probably leaving her own little world of distraction that she had been in as she had cried._

_Confident Emma wasn't going to run away, Regina crouched down before her, saying, "Hey."_

_She was sure her heart broke at hearing the soft "Hey" she got in return._

_Emma clearly had a lot to get out of her chest, so Regina just listened intently at the voice from her invisible girlfriend. "Out of all the things I've done in my life, giving Henry up is the one I regret the most. Even though it led me to you and Storybrooke, I can't help but feel like a hypocrite. They're right, I gave Henry up just as much as they gave me up. They were between a rock and a hard place with the curse, no offence."_

_Regina gave a small laugh, "No offence taken, dear. But Henry has forgiven you a long time ago. And I have no doubt that one day, you'll forgive them too."_

_Now it was Emma's turn for a chuckle as she replied, "I'd have never guessed you'd say that, I would've thought you'd be ecstatic at having split me from my parents."_

_Regina smirked playfully. "I did nothing, dear, that was all you. Besides, as I understand it, we're all doomed to deal with unbearable in-laws."_

_Her heart soared at hearing Emma full out laugh, getting Regina's smirk to widen into a genuine smile._

_"Now, are you going to turn visible so that I can kiss you?"_

_Although Regina couldn't see it, Emma nodded._

_The brunette didn't even wait until Emma was fully visible. Instead, as soon as started seeing the shadow of Emma's face, she placed a hand on either side of it before pulling the blonde towards her, joining them at the lips._

* * *

As Emma entered the Station, she could hear two voices arguing, and making her way towards the main office, the voices became more distinguishable. With her new memory fresh in her mind, she mentally winced as she heard her dad trading verbal blows with her supposed wife.

"I will do as I very well please, Charming. I refuse to be tied down in something I have no knowledge of!"

"Are you blind? Do you not see the ample proof staring at you right in the face?"

"That's exactly the point! There is way too much proof! This seems like a setup!"

As Emma got closer, she heard her dad give a sardonic laugh. "Blame yourselves for being overly sentimental and making up for 12 years of not being together. Believe me Regina, you were most definitely not my first choice for a suitable partner for Emma."

She entered the room, and cleared her throat, getting both to turn to face her.

"Ah, Ms Swan." Regina walked over to her, and Emma was once again reminded of how graceful she always looked, despite what the situation was. She stopped right in front of her and handed her a large envelope. "I expect these in my desk by tomorrow morning as I have no further wish to continue playing the part of the fool in this farce. Good day."

The Mayor swerved around Emma, who was rooted on the spot. After a few seconds of being frozen, dumbfounded by what had just transpired, she scrambled to open the envelope, her heart sinking at realizing just what she was holding.

Without even thinking, she ran after Regina, her hand crumpling the envelope and papers a bit. As she pushed the doors open and went outside, Emma caught the Mayor just as she was entering her car.

"DIVORCE PAPERS?!"

* * *

**Woo! Lots of drama huh?**

**Unfortunately I can't promise any less drama in the next chapter, but we'll see!**

**This chapter was a bit more memory focused, but next chapter will be more in the present times, so we'll see how it goes!**

**Also as a little fun fact for everyone, the red yarn line is a reference to the red string/thread of fate, which hints at people who are destined to meet and/or are soulmates. Though popular internet theories kinda skewed it to call it the invisible red line which seems kind of silly to me because if it's invisible, you can't exactly see if it's red or not.**

**But that's where it comes from!**

**Meanwhile, I'll leave everyone stewing with the idea of Regina's divorce papers, cue the dramatic music!**

**As for other stories, next up will be starting the Princess of Thieves...title still subject to change.**

**Feedback is always extremely appreciated!**


	3. The Proposition

**I'm baaack!**

**Everyone's yelling about the divorce papers so I think that the sooner I update to save people the stress, the better.**

**And, just a note to the guest who left the review saying: **Canon fact - Snow and Charming put Emma in the wardrobe so Regina would not kill her. You can have the same story without making up stuff that is not canon just to hate on Snowing.

**First of all, and correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think in canon Regina ever said she'd kill baby Emma? I might be totally wrong, but I absolutely don't recall that. But even _if_ that was the case, fanfics change canon things all the freaking time. Not to mention that this _is_ the show that has more plot holes than swiss cheese and any decent fic I've read.**

**Secondly, I don't hate on Snowing. I might've had issues with David's attitude in S1, but I don't hate on the ship. Plus, I'm not sure you read the entire chapter, because near the end it says: **_Emma clearly had a lot to get out of her chest, so Regina just listened intently at the voice from her invisible girlfriend. "Out of all the things I've done in my life, giving Henry up is the one I regret the most. Even though it led me to you and Storybrooke, I can't help but feel like a hypocrite. They're right, I gave Henry up just as much as they gave me up. They were between a rock and a hard place with the curse, no offence."_

**Emma admits she was out of line in what she said. It was a heat of the moment type of thing, not me trying to slip in some sort of hatred for Snowing. So calm down dude, it's just a scene in a fic.**

**Apart from that I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

* * *

"Yes Ms. Swan, I assume you're well-aware of what divorce papers are and how they work?"

Emma was flabbergasted. "Of course I do. I just don't understand why you want to get a divorce."

Regina got out of her car, going to stand dangerously close to the blonde. "As I was telling your idiotic father, I have no desire to be part of something I have no memory of. In my mind, we're not married in the least bit, so why keep up this ridiculous farce?"

"Come on Regina!" Emma was not fazed, matching the brunette's glare and standing her ground within the other woman's personal space. Their eyes never wavered from looking at one another as Emma continued, "Just give it a chance, please? I'm sure you've been having memories appear in your dreams, just as mine have."

"That means nothing to me." Regina was ready to brush the matter off, but Emma persisted.

"Oh really? So what, you think signing our divorce papers will get your subconscious to stop delivering your memories?"

In a historic moment, Regina was left speechless.

Emma sighed, relieving Regina of the stress of having to make up some ridiculous response to have the final word. "Look, I have a proposition for you."

Regina quirked an eyebrow up. "I'm listening."

Emma took the little victories as they came, and took a deep breath before plowing on. "How about a date? Just you and me, to at least try and see if we're compatible. If it all goes to hell at the end of it, I'll sign your papers the very next day, they'll be on your desk first thing in the morning, I promise. But please Regina, my memories are just as lost as you are, and I know neither one of us could've predicted this outcome, but give it a chance?"

The brunette finally broke eye contact, stepping back from their intense stand-off, and paced. "One date? And then you end this entire ridiculous joke and we never mention it again?"

The younger woman knew she was playing a dangerous game. Regina was the champion of locking up her emotions, she could bet that the other woman would do her darn best to prevent the date from going Emma's way. But she had to try. "Yes."

"Very well. Tonight?"

Emma flashed a smile and nodded. "Yes ma'am! I'll pick you up at 7?"

"That sounds good, I'll see you then, Ms. Swan."

* * *

"Well you were able to charm her pants off once, you can do it again."

Emma was sitting on a stool in front of the diner's counter, forehead resting on the countertop, her arms serving as cushions. Ruby was trying to cheer up her friend, but with little success.

"I mean, you got another date with her, that's one win for you."

The blonde finally dragged her head up, glaring at Ruby. "Seriously? I'd hardly count it as a win if the only reason she's doing this is to get me to sign divorce papers."

The waitress nodded reluctantly. "True. What's the plan?"

Emma grimaced. "That's the problem. I have less than 5 hours to come up with the perfect date to sweep her off her feet."

"Ruby!" Granny glared at her granddaughter, making gestures from the kitchen that she should be doing less talking, more serving.

"And that's my cue. You keep thinking of ideas and we can brainstorm later."

As Emma was left alone with her thoughts, she tried to figure out what to do.

"Hey mom!" The blonde looked up and saw her son striding over to her. She still had to do a double take at seeing how Henry looked now, so much taller and maturer than when she last saw him.

"Hey kid, how was school?"

"It was alright, same stuff as always I guess. But at least I didn't do an epic fail of math today."

Mother and son grinned, both of them well aware math was never a strong suit for either of them.

Henry noticed that his mom looked glum, and decided to approach the topic. "Everything alright, mom?"

Emma's sigh told him that whatever it was, it wasn't good. He wasn't expecting it to be that bad though. "Your mom handed me divorce papers this morning."

"Wait what?" Her kid's eyes bugged out. "But you two can't give up now! Once your memories come back everything will make sense again!"

"I know kid, I know. I tried to reason with her. I did eventually get somewhat through to her, and managed to get a wager set up. I'm taking her on a date tonight, and if I don't manage to sweep her off her feet, I'll sign those papers."

Henry's heart sunk. Things weren't looking good for his mothers.

Emma kept trying to shush out the voice in her head that doubted that she and Regina would ever get back together because, let's face it, they hadn't _ever_ had the best of relations in the time they knew each other. She was having a hard time believing that they were really a thing ever since she got the divorce papers. The blonde saw her son's sadness, and knew she would do her best, for her son's sake.

She gripped his shoulder tightly as she said, "Hey, kid. Even if we do get divorced, it'll only be temporary okay? When we get our memories back, I'm sure your mom will come to her senses. Plus you know we both still love you."

Henry smiled. He knew his mom was putting on a show of bravado for him, but he hoped it did come true. "So, any ideas? Oh! Are you going to try and recreate your first real date?"

Emma let out a laugh at her son's enthusiasm. "Real date? Did we have a fake date before that?"

"No, but you guys were keeping your relationship a secret for the first year or so, so you two had dinners at home. Then after you guys came out to say you were dating each other, you two went on a real first date."

She nodded, on one hand amused at their antics, on the other hand, she was angry. Angry that she didn't know even the first thing about their lives together and had to rely on third parties to fill in the blanks. She wanted her memories back so badly. "So what did we do for our real first date?"

"Everything! You guys went to the movies, dinner, the park, there was even the Lights Fair at the time so you went to that too, you told me you wanted to do everything with mom that you couldn't do before. And then at the end you proposed to her."

Emma blinked. "Must've been one long and busy night."

"Oh it was." Ruby was back. "Even after the date was done and you two went home to celebrate."

The blonde blushed profusely, even more at the salacious wink Ruby threw at her. Henry, for his part, was clearly old enough now to understand the reference, putting on a face of disgust and letting out an "EW!"

Emma cleared her throat. "Well that's definitely not going to cut it, there's no fairs and I'm pretty sure Regina will tear me a new one if it looks like I'm stalling." She tried to think for a bit, and then got an idea. "How about just a fancy dinner?"

Ruby and Henry shared a look. "It could work, but Storybrooke only has that stuffy place on Winston Avenue."

Emma shook her head. "Nah, I had something different in mind."

Henry was confused. "Like what?"

"There are places outside of Storybrooke we could go to."

* * *

Emma searched up restaurants that she and Regina could go, and finally settled on a popular and fancy seafood restaurant just a couple of towns over. Although she was sure Regina was bound to dress super elegant, she wanted to make sure the older woman was aware of their supposed attire just in case.

She tapped her phone to switch tabs, and saw that she and Regina had their own text thread. The longest one on her phone from the looks of it.

Glancing over at the last few messages, she noticed that they were made on the night of the accident.

Regina had apparently taken the leap to write the first message.

**Regina: Emma, we really need to talk, can you please come home tonight?**

**Emma: I'm in the middle of a case.**

**Regina: But there's a thunderstorm out there!**

**Emma: Crime doesn't hold for the weather to clear up.**

**Regina: Well where are you? I'll meet you there.**

**Emma: I'll pass by your house in a few.**

Emma felt a pang at reading the thread. From the looks of it, Regina had angered Emma somehow. It would explain why she had clothes at her parents' house. She wondered what they had been fighting about. The texts didn't give any clue, but she hoped things had been patched up before the accident.

She then remembered that right before she woke up at the hospital, she had a dream of driving a car, it swerved due to the inclement weather outside, and someone grabbed her hand. That must've been the accident, she realized with a pang.

The blonde remembered what she had been intending to do, and scrolled to the bottom of the thread. She noted there that there had been an additional message, but it failed to send.

**Emma: I love you so much.**

Emma took a deep breath and wrote out a message to Regina, simple but clear.

* * *

Regina looked up from her desk where she had been filling out a form, to see her phone signal that she had a new message.

It hadn't even crossed her mind to check her phone to see what messages it showed, but as she opened Emma's text, she let out a soft gasp.

There had to be thousands of messages on her phone from the blonde, and as she quickly scrolled by them, she saw that she herself answered Emma's compliments and declarations of love with messages that were equally mushy. Although Regina was still on edge, she allowed herself to smile at this, it felt like a wonderful relationship.

As she got to the end, she realized that this must've been the incident that they had argued about, with the exploding vase.

The newest message was curt, Emma must've clearly seen this thread, and didn't want to sound like she was trying to be loving.

**Emma: For tonight, wear a dress.**

Now Regina was curious, certainly the Chef's Cuisine didn't require a fancy dress code, even less so Granny's diner, though the Rabbit Hole's patrons would appreciate a woman in a fine dress. But Regina was certain that the blonde wouldn't have picked out the latter establishment, not if she still wanted a chance to be married to her.

Not that anything would get her to change her mind, she wasn't going to enjoy this at all, since she knew she held no love for Emma. She could tell the blonde was trying hard, but felt that Emma's own confidence in their relationship was waning. Having to endure one date would be painless, she'd had to endure a lot worse while being Leopold's wife. Even later in life, she always got what she wanted, no matter the price.

This would be a walk in the park.

* * *

**Next up, date #1!**

**Well it's actually going to be date #2, the present date, but worry not, the date that Henry mentions in this chapter will get its own spotlight in a couple of chapters!**

**I hope this chapter was entertaining for everyone, it's a bit filler-ish, but I'm getting things set up. Please let me know what you think!**

**Oh also I got a tumblr! Decided to stop lurking around and get an account, the link is on my profile, so yeah!**

**Next up for updates are Thief in the Night, and I'll be uploading Date in the Name of the Law as its own story soon!**


	4. The Date

**Alright here we go! One order of amnesiac wives going on a date coming right up! More than 5,000 words of it!**

**I hope everyone likes this, it was a total blast to write it!**

**Also my knowledge of wines is very very limited, so everyone can just nod and pretend I'm a wine connoisseur, and totally know what I'm talking about and we'll all end up happy.**

* * *

Emma took a deep breath, hoping that she wasn't setting herself up for a night of disaster. She looked once more at the reflection in the mirror, and smiled at the reflection. Despite the years that had gone by, she was still rocking her body, and could pull off looking stunning in a dress effortlessly. Despite her tendency to dress for mobility and practicality, she could clean up nicely, and hoped that Regina would be impressed.

What Emma was banking to floor her hopefully-not but potentially soon-to-be ex-wife was the upgrade with her car. Thankfully that tragic night they had both been in a cruiser, so Emma's actual car was intact for this.

She twirled the car keys and grabbed her clutch. Making sure that she had everything, she went downstairs where her parents and little Neal were waiting, looking a lot like a family seeing someone off to war. Granted, going on a date with an amnesiac ex-Evil Queen didn't exactly sound like a walk in the park. But Emma wouldn't let her nerves get the best of her. She had done this once before, she could certainly do it again.

"Well, I'm off," Emma declared, standing in front of the trio, trying to show the bravado that she didn't have.

"Goo' luck!" Neal piped up, grinning widely up at her. He wasn't even aware of what was really going on, but that didn't stop the toddler from trying to cheer on his big sister.

Emma grinned right back at him, and kneeled to give him a big hug.

Once she stood back up, Mary Margaret tried to give her an assuring smile. "Don't worry if everything doesn't work out. This is going to be temporary, I'm sure once you and Regina get your memories back, you two will go right back to being married."

Emma took a deep breath, disbelief all over her face. "I hope so."

"Well at least you'll be outside of Storybrooke, so Regina won't be able to fireball you." David added good-naturedly.

"I didn't pick something outside of Storybrooke because of that. I just wanted something nice, and Storybrooke doesn't exactly offer that."

David hummed, and then said, "Well I hear Tiana is trying to get the permits approved so she can get her restaurant up and going."

Emma chuckled, "I don't really have time for bureaucracy to take care of that."

Both her parents smiled at that, and Mary Margaret then saw the time and started to shoo her out. "Now go go, you only have 10 minutes, you don't want to be late! First impressions are everything! Though I suppose you two are on your third first impressions by now."

* * *

Regina was almost ready. After spending an eternity and a half searching for a perfect dress - not that she was being picky about what to dress for this date, no she just felt like she had to be at her most presentable that's all - she was now trying to find a purse. All of her things had shifted from before to where they were now, and she was sure a certain blonde moving in was the cause of that. So searching for things proved to be extra difficult.

After a bit of rummaging she found one. Opening it, she checked the pockets for any leftover receipts or papers she might've forgotten, and was curiously faced with an epi-pen. To say she was puzzled would be an understatement. Neither she nor Henry were allergic to anything, so why did she have it?

Just before she was going to discard it, she heard the doorbell ring. Deciding that she would dispose of it later, musing that there probably had to be a proper way to throw it out, and in a rush right now was not the answer. She threw it back in the purse and got her things ready, taking a deep breath.

Just a couple of hours of dealing with Emma Swan and then she could go back to her normal life.

It'd be over before she knew it.

* * *

Emma was standing in front of Regina's porch, after having just rung the doorbell, waiting. Granted she could just invite herself in, seeing as she had a key that she was sure would open the door in front of her, but right now, she wasn't in the role of Emma Swan-Mills, she was just Emma Swan, trying to win her wife back, despite feeling just as lost and discombobulated about this entire fiasco as Regina.

The door opened and her smile faltered as she saw Henry opening the door, instead of her date.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you, kid, but where is your mom?"

Henry chuckled. "She's changing, of course, she's been taking apart her closet for the past half hour."

Emma couldn't help but grin. Regina Mills was raiding her closet to find something suitable to wear for a date with _her_? This gave her a spark of hope that maybe, just maybe, Regina wasn't out to be the impossible date in order to get a stack of freshly signed divorce papers on her desk tomorrow morning. Maybe she was giving this a chance.

"Aren't you going to at least come in? This is your house too you know?" Henry's voice brought Emma out of her musings and she looked at her teenage son.

"Right, of course." This was the first time she had been in here since the accident, and she had to school her features to not let her jaw drop too much. There were pictures everywhere of the three of them, and she could see, even in just the ones closest to her, that they were happy. They were a family, the one thing all three of them had always wanted and dreamed of.

"Ms. Swan, you're early." She whipped around at hearing Regina's voice, and she had to double her efforts in keeping her jaw in place, because damn was she gorgeous.

"I uhm, yeah, I wanted to make sure I was on time." Emma grinned, taking in the beauty before her.

Regina was clad in a midnight-blue dress that brushed her knees, and sparkled with sequins and glitter. The brunette made her way down the rest of the stairs, sashaying her hips, and stood in front of her date, a playful smirk quirking at her lips at seeing the slack-jawed expression Emma was sporting.

After a few moments, Emma broke out of her reverie, and smiled. "Ready?"

Regina nodded, and then looked at her son. "Now remember-"

Henry sighed and rolled his eyes, before reciting, "Don't open the door to anyone, don't go out unless you have a very good reason, and if so - leave a note so that you know, no staying up playing video games, finish my homework, and no parties."

Regina was impressed. Granted the last point was new, but then again, Henry was 3 years older than what she remembered. She only hoped that the need for that rule was precautionary, not to prevent a repeating incident. "And call me if you need anything."

He grinned as he responded, "Don't worry mom, I have both your numbers on speed dial."

It took Regina a second to remember that despite her saying 'me', Henry took it to mean Emma as well. It was going to take some getting used to. She went to give Henry a quick kiss on his forehead, and then he went upstairs to his room, not before giving Emma a quick hug, leaving both women standing alone in the foyer.

"So, shall we get going?" Emma asked, holding out her arm for Regina to take.

Regina ignored the offered arm and leveled her date with a glare. "Ms. Swan, we might be amnesiac right now, but I have not turned into an idiot. So don't think for a second that I will enter that death trap you call a car anytime soon."

"Well, Your Majesty, if you were to look outside for a minute, you'll be happy to note the 'death trap' has retired." Emma smirked, moving her arm back down. Check and mate.

"Oh." Regina at least had enough grace to look a bit flustered at that.

Feeling emboldened, Emma asked, "Can I request something?"

Regina cocked her head in surprise. This was new. "No guarantees it'll be granted, but yes."

"Can you drop the whole 'Ms. Swan' thing? Honestly, we're going to a date, and I know it's a defense mechanism for you, calling people by their last names, but it's just going to be the two of us, and of course a couple hundred strangers." Emma hoped that her puppy-dog eyes worked their charm.

Regina felt a pang as she remembered the memory from the first night after the accident, how Emma said the same thing about the whole defense mechanism. When had she become so easy to read? But she supposed she could acquiesce with this for tonight. "Very well, Emma."

Emma grinned like a child at that, and held her arm out again. "Now come on, we need to get to the restaurant in time."

Regina took the arm, albeit a bit reluctantly at first, as she let the words sink in, and from what Emma had said before. Where in the world were they going?

* * *

15 minutes later and Regina saw the approaching orange line. Emma was taking them out of town for this? She was silently impressed.

The ride had been quiet up till now, looks were sneaked when they thought the other wasn't looking, but both women could tell when they were being looked at, and they both shyly smiled every time.

The second after they passed the line, Regina let out a sharp hiss. Although she tried to play it off with a cough, Emma noticed and veered off to the shoulder before braking immediately, twisting to look at her companion. "Are you okay?"

Regina just nodded, trying to wave off the worry. "Yes dear, I'm fine."

Emma didn't believe that for a second, and touched Regina's upper arm gently, getting the brunette to look at her. In the softest voice she could muster, she said, "No you're not. Is this about the town line crossing?"

Knowing she was not going to fool the ever infallible lie detector, she sighed and said, not daring to look at Emma's eyes, "Just passing over the town line rips my magic away quite forcefully, that's all."

"Oh." Emma said, always with the lack of tact, not missing Regina's refusal to look her in the eyes. She knew she should at least try to show Regina that she was sorry about it. "I'm really sorry Regina, I didn't know. Should I have driven slower?"

Regina shook her head. "No, it's alright. I just...magic has always been a big part of me. Having it taken away with such a force is like having a band-aid ripped away quickly. I'll be fine in a bit."

Emma rubbed Regina's arm unconsciously, drawing lazy circles with her thumb. "If you say so. But if you start feeling nauseous or want me to turn around just let me know, okay?"

Regina nodded, shooting a small grateful smile. Who'd have thought Emma Swan would prove to be so caring? Wait, she must not be thinking straight, since when was she calling Emma caring? Probably must be a side effect from passing through. It was only then that she noticed Emma's hand on her arm. She cleared her throat and took her arm back.

Emma for her part just cleared her throat as well and went back to driving, neither wanting to address what had just happened. So after a few minutes, she asked, "So, why does it affect you so much? I mean, for all intents and purposes I have magic too, but I don't feel anything."

"I believe it must be because you're not so attached to magic as I am. For me, magic is like another sense. Imagine if you lost one of your senses, it'd feel different, don't you think?"

The blonde hummed, and nodded. "Yeah, makes sense."

The brunette thought about it for another second, and added, "I imagine it's also because you grew up in this world. Although Storybrooke was without magic for 28 years, the air is still very different than what this world is like."

Emma just nodded once more and continued driving, falling into that awkward silence for the umpteenth time so far.

After a few more minutes, the blonde cleared her throat and stole a glance towards Regina. "By the way, you look gorgeous."

Regina felt her face heat up with the strength of a hundred suns. "Th-thank you," was the shaky reply, before adding, taking the opportunity to look at Emma's heart-stopping red dress, "You look beautiful as well."

Now both women were blushing, desperately looking anywhere but each other.

* * *

By the time they reached the restaurant, they were glad for the distraction, neither were sure how they would survive one more minute inside the car. But they couldn't say they had found reprieve quite yet, after all, they were headed into a restaurant for their date.

Emma went to help Regina out of her car, once more offered an arm, and much to her surprise, the brunette once more took said arm, and they walked into the restaurant together. The blonde held the door open for Regina to pass through, earning a shy 'thank you' in response.

The lady inside the restaurant flashed a smile at them, standing behind her podium. "Welcome to the Lake House. Do you have a reservation?"

Emma nodded. "Yep, it should be under Emma Swan."

The lady went to check on her list, and found the name. With a nod she looked at something else on her podium, and then grabbed two menus. "Alright, follow me."

In no time at all they were seated across from each other in a quiet booth, soft light illuminating the area around them, with background music and muffled conversations making up the ambience sound.

"Good evening, and welcome to the Lake House, record-holder of being Maine's most exquisite destination for fine seafood. My name is Vincent, and I'll be your server. Can I get you ladies started on any drinks?" The waiter, a young man dressed in slacks and a dress shirt, completed with a pristine vest, stood in front of their table, waiting for their response.

Emma looked at the woman sitting across from her. Was she expected to choose, would they each choose their individual drinks, or should she just let Regina choose? She went for the vague answer, one that would provide ample time for Regina to butt in if she wanted something different, and also didn't explicitly say whether she was ordering for herself or both of them. "Uhm, some wine would be great."

Vincent clearly assumed she was speaking for both of them as he replied, "Very well, what kind would you ladies prefer?"

Giving Regina a loaded look, the older woman took the hint and responded, "Some Pinot Grigio would be excellent."

The waiter bowed his head a bit and left them to fetch the beverage and leave them time to choose their meal.

After a few seconds of silence - a quite common occurrence during this date so far - Emma said, "Sorry if it seemed like I was choosing for you, but I know you like some good wine and I figured you would otherwise have just corrected me and ordered the drink you wanted."

Thankfully, it seemed Regina hadn't minded. "It's quite alright, I'd have considered it as such if you had ordered everything by yourself, but I assumed from your glare you were relegating the other half of the choosing to me, so I consider it to have been a fair choice."

Emma smiled and went back to looking at her menu. Maybe, just maybe, this will be able to work out.

* * *

After they finished placing their orders, Emma took a small sip of her wine, feeling bold enough to start a conversation.

"This feels weird, huh?"

Regina, who had been doing a stellar job of admiring the entire restaurant and ignoring the blonde in front of her, now looked towards her date with a raised eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"You, me, this date, the fact we both have amnesia?" Emma clarified. She then sighed and continued, "This is the kind of things you see on TV shows, or -or..."

"Fantastical stories?" Regina supplied with a smirk.

Emma smiled at that. "Yeah, that too."

Regina was the first to get our of her reverie, and responded with, "Well I completely agree, which was why I was trying to get you to sign those papers. Despite all that my house, our own son, and everyone in that town is blaring, I don't feel married to you. I feel..." Here she paused, before shaking her head and continuing. "Never mind. The point is, that we have to stop kidding ourselves. I have no idea why we married or how we fell for each other, and perhaps if or when we get our memories back, it'll make sense, but for now this feels like a farce. Or since you don't like word, an arrangement."

It was true, Emma didn't like the word 'farce' coupled with their supposed marriage, but she supposed that for Regina, that's what she thought about this. She swallowed hard as she processed everything the woman across from her had said. "Then what happens after I sign the papers? We just go our separate ways and wait for our memories to come back?"

"Precisely." She knew Emma wasn't happy with this idea, she could just see it in the hazel eyes that were staring at her with a mix of confusion and hurt, along with the slightest bit of anger mixing in. The ring, the one Emma still wore, was glinting under the warm light, and it took everything in her power to not look at it, to not feel guilty for not wearing her own as well. Emma was in the exact same position as her, but the blonde was making an effort, she was trying to see this marriage as an actual thing. But for Regina, this reminded her too much of her marriage to Leopold. Once more she finds herself married to someone, that discombobulated feeling from having decisions thrust on her was something she never had to experience again. Although Emma was the farthest thing from Leopold, and she hopes there's no nefarious plan behind it, she can't help but wonder, and worry.

Before they could say anything else, their food had arrived.

"Bon Appetit," Vincent smiled after setting down the plates, leaving the two women with their steaming plates of food, and a tension in the air that would need an industrial sized saw to cut through it.

The two got ready to dig in, and Emma asked, "And what are we supposed to tell Henry?"

"The truth of course. He is a teenager now, I'm sure he'll understand," Regina shrugged the matter off, grabbing her utensil and digging into the lobster.

Emma watched as Regina did the impossible, eating a lobster with grace. Grabbing her fork, Emma was about to start eating her own, but paused, staring at Regina, despite the fact that the woman was focused on her own plate. "He might understand, but that doesn't mean he'll be happy about it. He was devastated when I told him about the divorce papers..."

Now Regina did look up, and her glare was all Evil Queen. She leaned a bit forward towards Emma and hissed, "I would've expected it from the Charmings, but are you seriously stooping so low as to try to use Henry against me so we will remain married?"

The blonde paused, mouth partially open ready to take her first bite. She put the fork down a bit and her eyes widened. "What? No! No Regina, I would never do that to you-"

"Oh really? Isn't that the entire purpose of this date? To force me into still being with you?" Regina asked with a scowl.

"No it's not!" Emma sighed, putting her fork down. At this rate her food was going to get cold. "Look, this date was because I was hoping that maybe, having the two of us in a vaguely romantic setting would maybe get you to reconsider the divorce papers, but like I said, if at the end of tonight you tell me your mind hasn't changed, I'll accept it and give you the papers tomorrow morning as promised. I'm not going to hold you against your will to get you to drop those papers." Emma then smirked as she added, "Not that I think I'd be able to, you'd roast me before I even tried."

Regina had to return the smirk with an amused chuckle. Then she grew serious again as she asked, "Then what did you mean in regards to Henry?"

"Despite him being a teenager...having the home situation change drastically isn't easy for any kid." Emma here was speaking from experience, remembering just how she felt every time she was sat down by her current foster parents and told she had to go back. "So I'm just saying that we should try to phrase it in such a way that it doesn't seem like we're not considering the fact that he'll be affected or hurt by this."

Regina thought about it for a couple of seconds while Emma finally managed to start eating. She was about to open her mouth to give her two cents, when she hear Emma's fork clatter on the plate.

Something was wrong.

Specifically in regards to Emma.

She was choking.

She was banging on the table and scratching at her throat wildly, eyes wide open with a half-crazed look on them.

Regina barely managed to snap out of her reverie and yelled out, "She's choking! Someone help!"

Chaos erupted around them as she scrambled out of her seat and went to the other side of the booth to get Emma closer to the mouth of the booth so the table wouldn't be restricting her. Emma meanwhile was red in the face as her arms and hands made wild gestures like she was trying to thump out the food in her throat. She was starting to break out in hives, lips becoming puffy as her air supply was becoming dangerously low.

Some other patrons were trying to help, calling 911.

"Does anyone have an epi-pen?" Someone yelled out, and Regina remembered the little stick in her purse. She fumbled widely in her purse, before she found it, grabbed it and in a few seconds, she injected it into Emma.

The scene calmed down as Regina took Emma into her arms, and they kinda collapsed into one of the booth's seats. Emma was shaking in her arms, taking in long gulps of air. Regina meanwhile had one arm rubbing slow circles on Emma's arm, while the other stroked her hair.

In no time, the paramedics arrived.

So much for a quiet and relaxed dinner.

* * *

After nearly 2 hours of fussing and check-ups with the paramedics, Emma and Regina were on their way back to Storybrooke, Regina was driving this time, and Emma was like a ragdoll, feeling like her body was all out of sorts.

They had hardly spoken, except for Regina's periodic 'how are you feeling?' only to get a curt monosyllabic response from the blonde.

Emma looked at Regina, noting how tense the brunette seemed. She had royally fucked up. When in the world had she become allergic to shellfish? Though she supposed it wasn't recent, seeing as Regina had an epi-pen in her purse, as she was later informed. "Thanks."

Regina gave a quick glance to the blonde. This was the first time in an hour that Emma had prompted to start the conversation, but she was confused, "For what?"

Emma shrugged, looking out the window. "Everything really. Having the epi-pen, keeping me company to the point of not leaving my side, just for making and keeping me calm."

Regina sighed, and they once more veered to the shoulder as she stopped the car. She looked at Emma, and put her hand on the blonde's chin, getting Emma to look at her. "Look, Emma, despite everything we've been through, I do care about you. From where our memories left off, I would like to think that we were beginning to have a friendship, as well as being two parents trying to raise their child. Despite my feelings towards your parents, please don't think that you are automatically also held in that regard. You are one of the few people, the other being Henry, who actually believes that I can change - or has changed. Besides, you were going through anaphylactic shock, you can't honestly think I'd have left you."

Emma smiled, but her mind was already preparing a list of all the foster parents and then-friends who had left her while she bled from wounds, vomited, had a cold, among a whole slew of other examples. None were life-threatening, but it still led Emma to believe people didn't really care about the ailments of others in general. "But still, thanks. I hope you don't mind me asking, but why did you have an epi-pen? Is Henry allergic to something?" Knowing her luck, Emma would be unaware that her son would have severe allergies.

But Regina shook her head. "Not that I know of. I actually found it in my purse, and had been thinking of throwing it out, but you rang the bell and I decided I'd do it later."

The blonde chuckled. "Well then, I'll be thanking my good timing for saving my life - for once. So does that mean I've had this before?"

"I would guess so," Regina replied, though she hated that it seemed like it was the case. Going through this once must be hard enough on Emma. But twice? "You weren't allergic to shellfish before?"

"Not that I know of. Then again, I was never the type to eat lobster too often, so perhaps it's been the case for a while but I never realized it because of that."

"I see."

Once more the silence settled, and Regina went back to driving.

When they were nearing Storybrooke, Emma looked over to Regina, "I can drive through the line if you want."

"It's quite alright dear, I'll be fine."

Emma wasn't sure if Regina was just acting, but there was no reaction from the brunette as they crossed the town line. The car didn't swerve, and she didn't even flinch or make a peep.

Regina broke the silence by saying, "I will drop you off at the Charming's apartment and you can pick up the car tomorrow."

"Wait what? Regina I'm perfectly capable of driving."

"Please dear, don't insult my intelligence. I will not, in good conscience, allow you to operate this vehicle or any other, and I have to get back home somehow."

"Then just park the car at your house and I'll walk over."

"Honestly, what is your problem with me dropping you off?"

Instead of answering right away, Emma sighed, and fidgeted with the hem of her dress. Then, in the meekest voice Regina had heard Emma speak in, she said, "I'd rather not have to answer my parent's third degree over how the date went."

And then Regina understood, and she changed course. "I have guest rooms available, you can sleep there tonight."

Emma whipped around to look at Regina, and flashed a grateful smile, though she was sure the brunette wouldn't see it. "Thanks."

Regina did.

* * *

As soon as Emma was shown the room, Regina asked if she needed anything.

"No, I'm good." Emma bit her lip as she saw the brunette nod and make her way out of the room. "Wait, actually..."

"Yes?" Regina came to stand once more in front of the blonde, taking note of the lip biting.

"About tonight...I know it was a disaster, and I won't even ask you for your verdict, but since I obviously don't have the papers to sign now, they'll be a bit late. You'll still get them tomorrow though. Is that okay?"

"No, it's not."

* * *

**Haaaa okay who had seen the allergic reaction coming?**

**I know, I'm evil for the ending. Next chapter will be the past date!**

**Also big plot solution to another [secondary] problem was revealed in the chapter, can you guess what it was? Hint: the problem was revealed in a flashback.**

**As for other fic updates, next up is The Things We've Lost, and then a one-shot!**


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